Tribute to fallen airmen held at Mactan Air Base

Families, friends, soldiers and the top officials of the Philippine Air Force gave a final salute to seven of the nine airmen lost in last week’s crash at the Davao Gulf after their remains finally arrived at the Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City yesterday.

Only the somber sound of trumpets and drums at the Mactan Air Base were heard as seven caskets were unloaded from a Fokker F-27 plane.

First to arrive onboard another Fokker F-27 plane were the families of the crew, who attended a similar ceremony Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.

After a ten-minute heroes welcome ceremony at Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base, the caskets that bore the belongings and body parts that have been retrieved after the C-130 cargo plane crashed last August 25 shortly after taking off from the Davao International Airport, were brought inside at the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage Chapel.

The caskets also bore the names and pictures of Capt. Adrian de Dios and crewmen T/Sgt. Constantino Lobrigas and S/Sgts.Gary Diñoso, Felix Pedro Patriarca, Patricio Claur Jr., Aldrin Illustrisimo and Petronilo Fernandez.

The caskets of Air Force Maj. Manuel Zambrano Jr. and S/Sgt. John Areola were separately fetched by their relatives while at the Villamor Air Base.

Two soldiers, Cpl. Bernie Sabangan of the Army Scout Rangers and M/Sgt. Remegio Lebres, were belatedly confirmed to have died in the accident and the military is set to give them separate honors, PAF officials said.

In his homily during the mass, Bishop Leopoldo Tumulak acknowledged the important role of a soldier not only to protect the people, but also the country.

Tumulak said every soldier knows that anything can happen to them, anytime because of their duty.

The tribute was held even if only body parts were recovered after four days of search and retrieval operations.

The sealed ivory caskets airlifted yesterday from Villamor Air Base contained remains collected around the gulf, it was learned.

Five Air Force personnel designated as pall bearers carried the caskets from the plane to the ramp.

The caskets were lined up on the ramp and blessed by the Air Force chaplain then brought to the chapel.

The parents of Capt. Adrian de Dios, Carlito and Roda De Dios, told reporters that they have come to accept the death of their son.

Although, they are bringing tomorrow a casket with only body parts to their hometown in Catarman, Samar, according to them it will make them remember their son.

Roda admitted that even before the incident, she and her husband know the danger of being a military man as another son is also a fresh graduate from the Philippine Military Academy.

For her part, Jocelyn Gaor,wife of S/Sgt. Patricio Gaor, said she is now trying to come to grips with the future of her three children.

She wants the casket with the body parts, believed to be of her husband, be brought to Davao where her relatives and family lives.